Wagner: Das Rheingold, WWV 86A (Live) Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks & Simon Rattle

• Richard Wagner (1813–1883): Das Rheingold, WWV 86A
• 1 Scene 1: Prelude 04:24
• 2 Scene 1: Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle! (Woglinde, Wellgunde, Flosshilde) 01:14
• 3 Scene 1: Hehe! Ihr Nicker! (Alberich, Woglinde, Wellgunde, Flosshilde) 01:10
• 4 Scene 1: Garstig glatter glitschiger Glimmer! (Alberich, Woglinde, Wellgunde, Flosshilde) 07:03
• 5 Scene 1: Lugt, Schwestern! Die Weckerin lacht in den Grund (Woglinde, Wellgunde, Flosshilde, Alberich) 05:50
• 6 Scene 1: Der Welt Erbe gewann' ich zu eigen durch dich? (Alberich, Woglinde, Wellgunde, Flosshilde) 04:33
• 7 Scene 2: Einleitung 01:08
• 8 Scene 2: Wotan! Gemahl! Erwache! (Fricka, Wotan) 06:40
• 9 Scene 2: So schirme sie jetzt (Fricka, Freia, Wotan) 01:41
• 10 Scene 2: Sanft schloss Schlaf dein Aug'! (Fasolt, Wotan, Fafner, Freia) 07:02
• 11 Scene 2: Zu mir, Freia! Meide sie, Frecher! (Froh, Donner, Fafner, Fasolt, Wotan, Freia, Fricka) 01:32
• 12 Scene 2: Endlich Loge! Eiltest du so (Wotan, Loge, Fricka, Froh, Donner, Fafner, Fasolt) 04:04
• 13 Scene 2: Umsonst sucht' ich (Loge, Wotan) 03:41
• 14 Scene 2: Nicht gonn' ich das Gold dem Alben (Fasolt, Fafner, Loge, Wotan, Fricka, Donner, Froh) 05:37
• 15 Scene 2: Hor', Wotan, der Harrenden Wort! (Fafner, Wotan, Fasolt, Freia, Donner, Froh) 02:00
• 16 Scene 2: Uber Stock und Stein zu Tal (Loge, Fricka, Donner, Froh) 02:31
• 17 Scene 2: Jetzt fand ich's: hort, was euch fehlt! (Loge, Fricka) 02:43
• 18 Scene 2: Auf, Loge, hinab mit mir! (Wotan, Loge, Donner, Froh, Fricka) 04:03
• 19 Scene 3: Hehe! Hehe! Hieher! Hieher! Tuckischer Zwerg! (Alberich, Mime) 03:23
• 20 Scene 3: Nibelheim hier: durch bleiche Nebel (Loge, Mime, Wotan) 00:47
• 21 Scene 3: Wer halfe mir? (Mime, Loge, Wotan) 04:10
• 22 Scene 3: Nehmt euch in acht! Alberich naht (Mime, Wotan, Alberich) 02:24
• 23 Scene 3: Was wollt ihr hier? (Alberich, Wotan, Loge) 03:53
• 24 Scene 3: Auf wonnigen hohn (Alberich, Woten, Loge) 05:46
• 25 Scene 3: Riesen-Wurm winde sich ringelnd! (Alberich, Loge, Wotan) 02:17
• 26 Scene 3: Luge du her! (Alberich, Loge) 00:50
• 27 Scene 3: Nun schnell hinauf: dort ist er unser (Loge) 01:22
• 28 Scene 3: Verwandlungsmusik 02:16
• 29 Scene 4: Da, Vetter, sitze du fest! (Loge, Alberich, Wotan) 03:07
• 30 Scene 4: Wohlan, die Nibelungen rief ich mir nah' (Alberich, Wotan) 02:31
• 31 Scene 4: Gezahlt hab' ich; nun lasst mich zieh'n! (Alberich, Loge, Wotan) 05:44
• 32 Scene 4: Bin ich nun frei, Alberich's curse (Alberich, Loge, Wotan) 04:13
• 33 Scene 4: Fasolt und Fafner nahen von fern (Loge, Froh, Donner, Fricka) 02:51
• 34 Scene 4: Halt! Nicht sie beruhrt! (Fasolt, Wotan) 02:13
• 35 Scene 4: Gepflanzt sind die Pfahle nach Pfandes Mass (Fafner, Wotan, Loge, Froh, Fricka, Donner) 03:03
• 36 Scene 4: Freia, die Schone, schau' ich nicht mehr (Fasolt, Fafner, Loge, Wotan, Freia, Fricka, Froh, Donner) 02:35
• 37 Scene 4: Weiche, Wotan, weiche! Flieh' des Ringes Fluch! (Erda, Wotan) 05:25
• 38 Scene 4: Hort, ihr Riesen! (Donner, Freia, Wotan) 01:46
• 39 Scene 4: Halt, du Gieriger! Gonne mir auch was! (Fasolt, Fafner, Loge, Wotan) 02:05
• 40 Scene 4: Was gleicht, Wotan, wohl deinem Glucke? (Loge, Wotan, Fricka) 02:06
• 41 Scene 4: Schwules Gedunst schwebt in der Luft (Donner) 02:50
• 42 Scene 4: Zur Burg fuhrt die Brucke (Froh) 01:09
• 43 Scene 4: Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge (Wotan, Fricka) 02:56
• 44 Scene 4: Ihrem Ende eilen sie zu (Loge, Woglinde, Wellgunde, Flosshilde, Wotan) 00:34
• 45 Scene 4: Rheingold! Rheingold! Reines Gold! (Woglinde, Wellgunde, Flosshilde) 03:22
• Total Runtime 02:22:34

Info for Wagner: Das Rheingold, WWV 86A (Live)

The general consensus over the past few years among music critics and the public at large is that everything the conductor Sir Simon Rattle touches 'turns to gold'. Everything with the exception of the music dramas of Richard Wagner, that is! The oft-repeated assertion here is that Rattle and Wagner do not go together, even though no good reasons have been furnished to support this. The third collaboration between Rattle and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, together with a team of the very best Wagner singers, now conclusively proves the opposite. This concert performance of 'Das Rheingold', the first opera in Wagner's mighty tetralogy 'The Ring of the Nibelung', was performed live in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz on April 24 and 25, 2015, and has now been brought out by BR KLASSIK on two CDs only a few months after the event.

No question about it: Rattle is a master of the Rheingold score, which is certainly a tricky one due to its closely interwoven ensemble of soloists and to the fact that the orchestra does not accompany events and flow round them in a lofty manner, as in other Wagnerian music dramas, but is also sometimes quite openly rebellious! Rattle has already impressively proven his expertise at handling the music of Wagner on two occasions: in 2004 in London, together with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and in 2006 in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic. The fact that he is more inclined to conduct this 'evil conversation piece, almost a black comedy' (as Robert Braunmüller described 'Das Rheingold' in the Munich 'Abendzeitung') with light and sometimes even dance-like inflections, and that he has the orchestra play with a great deal of colour and detail, shakes a little of the supercilious Wagnerian dust from this work, without in any way compromising the glittering brilliance of the musical sound. The soloists – all of them very good without exception - blend in completely with Rattle's fine interpretation, which is very much in the spirit of the drama.

Audiences and critics alike were unanimously delighted by the Munich concert performances. Even more than in the small Herkulessaal, which already enabled more intimate insights into the structures of the score and of the aesthetic created by Rattle, this listening experience on CD makes it clear 'just how radically the avant-garde artist Richard Wagner composed in every single bar' (Reinhard J. Brembeck, 'Sueddeutsche Zeitung').

Michael Volle, baritone (Wotan)
Christian Van Horn, bass baritone (Donner)
Benjamin Bruns, tenor (Froh)
Burkhard Ulrich, tenor (Loge)
Elisabeth Kulman, mezzo-soprano (Fricka)
Annette Dasch, soprano (Freia)
Janina Baechle, mezzo-soprano (Erda)
Tomasz Konieczny, bass baritone (Alberich)
Herwig Pecoraro, Tenor (Mime)
Peter Rose, bass (Fasolt)
Eric Halfvarson, bass (Fafner)
Mirella Hagen, sopran (Woglinde)
Stefanie Irányi, mezzo-soprano (Wellgunde)
Eva Vogel, mezzo-soprano (Flosshilde)
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Simon Rattle, conductor

Simon Rattle
was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal Academy of Music.

For some years Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, in 1980 he became Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, stepping up to Music Director from September 1990 until August 1998. He is also Founding Patron of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and since the early 1990s, has been a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. As guest conductor, he appears regularly in the United States, London and Europe, with close links to a number of orchestras most notably with the Vienna Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestras.

In September 2002 he became Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Berliner Philharmoniker where he leads regular tours in Europe, North America and the Far East and has recently conducted Bach's St. Matthew Passion in Lucerne, Salzburg London's BBC Proms and will be taking the production to New York this Autumn. His most recent opera includes the Staatsoper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Not long after it was established in 1949, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra) developed into an internationally renowned orchestra. The performance of new music enjoys an especially long tradition, and right from the be- ginning, appearances in the musica viva series, created by composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann in 1945, have ranked among the orchestra’s core activities. On extensive concert tours to virtually every country in Europe, to Asia as well as to North and South America, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks continually con rms its position in the first rank of top international orchestras. The history of the Symphonieorchester is closely linked with the names of its previous Chief Conductors: Eugen Jochum (1949–1960), Rafael Kubelík (1961– 1979), Sir Colin Davis (1983– 1992) and Lorin Maazel (1993–2002). In 2003, Mariss Jansons assumed his post as new Chief Conductor. With a number of CD releases, among others a series of live recordings of concerts in Munich, Mariss Jansons continues the orchestra’s extensive discography. Maestro Jansons, the Chor and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks were honoured for their recording of the 13th Symphony of Shostakovich when they were awarded a Grammy in February of 2006 in the “Best Orchestral Performance” category. In December, 2008, a survey conducted by the British music magazine Gramophone listed the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks among the ten best orchestras in the world. In 2010, Mariss Jansons and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks received an ECHO Klassik Award in the category “Orchestra/Ensemble of the Year” for their recording of Bruckner’s 7th Symphony on BR-KLASSIK. The complete Beethoven symphonies, performed by the Symphonieorchester under Mariss Jansons in Tokyo in the autumn of 2012, were voted by the Music Pen Club Japan – the organisation of Japanese music journalists – as the best concerts by foreign artists in Japan in 2012.

Booklet for Wagner: Das Rheingold, WWV 86A (Live)